


Into the Depths

by flipflop_diva



Category: Aladdin (1992)
Genre: Disguise, Gen, Post-Canon, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27586447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: On the eve of her wedding, Jasmine takes a trip back to where it all began.
Relationships: Jasmine & Rajah (Disney)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9
Collections: 2020 Disney Animated Movie Exchange (DAM Exchange)





	Into the Depths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/gifts).



A feeling of celebration was in the air. Fireworks exploding into the skies, the sounds of people cheering and dancing, smiles on the faces of everyone she could see. 

The castle itself was a sea of commotion. People running this way and that. Planning and organizing and chattering.

She’d had people measure her up and down and left and right, tug on her hair and brush it and fluff it and stuff it into bows and clips and bands. People were showing her swatches of fabric, asking if she liked this green more than this green or if she liked this blue less than that blue, holding the cloth up to her face and her arms and her body and tsking and tasking and making notes on their clipboards.

There were plates of food almost everywhere she went, all carried by people shoving forks under her nose or into her mouth and asking her which she preferred and which was better and then arguing over the way it was cooked and if there was too much salt or not enough pepper.

Other people were throwing up streamers or auditioning monkeys (Abu was very offended by that) or asking the Genie if he had any friends.

It was too much. It was all too much. She made an escape as soon as she could, disappearing up the stairs into the one place in the castle no one would search for her: the roof. Up there, she could see all of Agrabah, could watch the noises in the streets and see beyond the celebrations to the people who were just living their lives, who didn’t care about a royal wedding, who only cared what those royals might be able to do to make their lives better.

She heard a sound beside her and turned to see Rajah sitting down beside her, nestling his head in his front paws. He looked a lot how she felt, and she laughed slightly.

And then she had an idea.

“Rajah,” she said. “I want you to take me down into the city.”

The tiger’s head instantly swiveled to look at her, head cocked to the side.

“You can help me navigate the streets,” she said. “I just want to see the people.” She waved a hand around her, knowing Rajah would understand. “I just want to be normal for one day. Before our lives become about tradition and service and everything else that being a ruler comes with. I just want to … not be a princess for a bit.”

Rajah seemed to be studying her. He let out a soft growl. She understood what he was saying. Her last foray into the city did not go so well at all, and she probably would have been thrown into jail if it hadn’t been for Aladdin who had saved her. 

“I know,” she said now. “And I promise I won’t steal any food. I just want to see what the people who live here are like.”

Rajah studied her for a few more minutes, cocking his head this way and then that way, and then finally he growled again and got to his feet. A grin broke out across Jasmine’s face at the sight. She leaned over and put her arms around her friend, hugging him to her even as he growled playfully and tried to escape her hold. She laughed more, playing with him, until he stopped growling and put his head on her shoulder. His version of giving her a hug.

“Thank you, Rajah,” she said softly. “You won’t regret this.”

\--

She borrowed some clothes from her handmaiden — well, she actually took them when no one was looking but she did plan on bringing them back — and slipped into the plain white dress and the dusty shoes just outside the castle walls. She tied her hair back into a loose ponytail and plopped a hat down on top of it. She finished the look with a pair of sunglasses.

She turned to Rajah. “Do you recognize me?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Perfect,” she said. “Now we do you.”

She picked up the bucket of paint she had brought with her. A few minutes later, Rajah’s gleaming orange was hidden under midnight black. 

“Now, you are a leopard,” Jasmine told him. Rajah grunted. 

They headed out carefully. It was easy to slip out of the castle and the surrounding areas with the amount of people who were coming and going, all promising they had something for the wedding that could not be lived without, but at the same time, too many people knew who she was now. She was no longer in her father’s shadow, and she needed to make sure to blend in with the regular people of Agrabah.

They kept to crowded streets, walking behind groups of people so as to better blend in. Rajah walked next to her, bumping into her hip here and there when he wanted to go a different direction.

As they walked further into town, the luxurious parts of the city began to give way to smaller and poorer and more decrepit houses, and the people themselves became less dressed in rich silks and more in old clothing that looked like it was about to fall to pieces.

They ended up at the street market where her life had changed forever. She even saw the man she had taken the apple from, back when she hadn’t known better.

This time, she kept her hands to herself and her head down, drawing as little attention as possible as she and Rajah weaved in and out of people. She watched as children held their hands out and begged for food. She heard men and women negotiating plaintively with the people selling the food, both sides begging for mercy. She saw old women sitting and knitting while children ran and play, and she saw groups of teenagers playing cards in the street and using small rocks as balls.

She and Rajah returned to the castle later that night, her heart heavy from what she had seen but her mind made up. She could not let the people of her city starve and suffer while she and her father and Aladdin and the people in the castle had more than they could possibly ever need.

She had always wanted to change the world. Finally, she knew with absolute conviction how exactly she would.


End file.
